Hillary Clinton Said Children of Illegal Immigrants Should Be Sent Back in 2014 CNN Interview

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to guests at the American Library Association's annual conference on June 27 in Chicago. Her speech was sponsored by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of her illustrated children's book due out in September.Getty Images/Scott Olson

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton gave a stern and straightforward response during a 2014 CNN interview about how she thought the country’s immigration laws should be executed, particularly when it came to children of undocumented immigrants, according to Mediaite.

In the exchange with CNN host and reporter Christiane Amanpour, Clinton was not speaking specifically about “dreamers,” children who were brought to the United States by their parents and until recently have been allowed to remain and work in the country, but children who were coming along borders on their own.

“We have to send a clear message, just because your child gets across the border, that doesn’t mean the child gets to stay,” the former secretary of state said. “So, we don’t want to send a message that is contrary to our laws or will encourage more children to make that dangerous journey.”

Amanpour then asked: “So, you’re saying they should be sent back now?

“Well, they should be sent back as soon as it can be determined who responsible adults in their families are, because there are concerns whether all of them should be sent back,” Clinton responded. “But I think all of them who can be should be reunited with their families.”

Before that exchange, Clinton explained that an increase in immigration at that time had to do with violence in some Central American countries and authorities there being unable to properly curtail it.

At the time, Clinton was promoting her book Hard Choices, and she was not too far away from announcing her bid for the 2016 presidential race. And the report notes that while on the campaign trail Clinton said she wanted “comprehensive immigration” reform and would also “fight to protect” immigrants covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans acts ordered under President Barack Obama.

The latter was enacted—while DAPA was struck down in federal court—but President Donald Trump’s administration announced Wednesday that the program would be nixed. Trump did, though, state that he “loved” the 800,000 so-called Dreamers and hoped Congress would take action in protecting them from possible deportation.

Clinton's latest book, What Happened, will be released Tuesday. It details Clinton’s time on the campaign trail as well as the reasons she believes she lost to Trump in November.